Congo, Democratic Republic Of

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) Friday started to airlift urgent food assistance from Pointe Noire to Impfondo in Likouala province to reach tens of thousands of Congolese refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) who have moved into northern Republic of Congo (RoC).

"The children who are playing have just had a small meal," said Ngbatambala, a community leader. "The ones who are crying haven't had anything since this morning. Here, it is a single meal per day." (..) The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has paid only one visit, last December, to distribute food across the whole region, according to aid workers and refugees.

I’ve learned some new words. One is “autocannibalism,” coined in French but equally appropriate in English. It describes what happens when a militia here in eastern Congo’s endless war cuts flesh from living victims and forces them to eat it. (..) The World Food Program averts starvation with its food distributions. And Eve Ensler, author of “The Vagina Monologues,” is working with Unicef to build a city of joy here to train women — some of them shattered by war — to transform their communities. City of Joy will teach legal rights, self-defense and skills for economic empowerment, and a team of female construction workers is helping build it right now.

Assurances from authorities in Kinshasa that peace had been restored to their home areas in northwestern Democratic Republic of Congo carry little weight with thousands of refugees across the Ubangi River in the Central African Republic (CAR): they are in no hurry to return home. “We fled because we had seen soldiers wounded, houses burned, women raped,” says Charles Banganya, a refugee waiting for a World Food Programme (WFP) aid distribution in Zinga.

The number of Democratic Republic of Congo nationals who have fled to the Central African Republic "could reach up to 18 000"(..). The UN World Food Programme plans to send 520 tonnes (520 000 kilograms) of food supplies over the next two months. "We are going to alert the other agencies (in the United Nations) to provide adequate aid for these people in need", regional director of the UN's World Food Programme Thomas Yanga said on a visit to the Central African Republic.

The U.N. refugee agency is busy dealing with a flood of refugees leaving the Democratic Republic of Congo.(..)The U.N. World Food Program is distributing food to the refugees, while UNHCR is handing out non-food items, such as blankets, utensils, shelter material, etc.

The United Nations is rushing food to thousands of displaced Congolese in northwest Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where tribal clashes have driven 130,000 people from their homes. “Because of ongoing clashes in the area where these people live, it has been difficult to get food assistance to those who need it most,” UN World Food Programme (WFP) Country Director Abdou Dieng said, noting that the food distributions would be widened if security conditions improved.

The more than 800 small-scale farmers belonging to co-operatives around the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) capital, Kinshasa, could produce enough rice and vegetables for the capital's estimated eight million inhabitants, according to the country's agriculture ministry.
However the farmers say they cannot effectively work the land without any long-term prospects or stability. The land is being steadily being taken away from them and sold off for new construction, especially in Mimoza, Maluku, Mpasa, Bandalungwa, N'Sele and Kingabwa, which are rural areas around the capital.

The inter-community conflicts which are going on in South-Ubangi district, Equator province in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have already affected 55 villages in five territories, leading to 70,000 people internally displaced and approximately 77,000 externally displaced (..) The World Food Program (WFP) and other UN aid agencies are already to distribute assistance to the internally displaced persons but the recent worsening of the security situation in the country does not favor commencement of aid distribution. The people who are in the affected areas are likely to move again.